


The Vampire Next Door

by doxian



Series: Homestuck Shipping World Cup 2014 [7]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, F/F, Homestuck Shipping World Cup 2014, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Rainbow Drinkers, Roommates, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 10:11:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1854214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian/pseuds/doxian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Come to think of it, we haven't been very neighborly," Aradia says. "She's been moved in for weeks and we haven't even given her a proper welcome yet!"</p><p>You set your Kindle down on your lap. Looks like you won't be getting any more reading done for the day, but paying a visit to your next door neighbor, who you and Aradia have decided is almost certainly a vampire - or a rainbow drinker, as the trolls call them - is easily what you'd rather be doing with your Saturday afternoon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Vampire Next Door

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CredibilityProblem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CredibilityProblem/gifts).



> Fill for [this br3 prompt](http://hs-worldcup.dreamwidth.org/19475.html?thread=5328147#cmt5328147): Teenage goth girls Rose and Aradia are fascinated by anything witchy, ghosty, occulty or otherwise supernatural, so imagine their interest and joy when they start suspecting that a Very Real Vampire is living next door.
> 
> As evident from the prompt, there's some minor stalking and vampire exotification in this. Also a mention of blood and puncturing the skin.

"Aradia," you call from where you're laying on the couch with your feet up, trying to get through _Petula Deadshine and Her Secret Ghoulfriend_ , the latest installment of the popular _Petula Deadshine_ paranormal drama series, on your Kindle. "Didn't your lusus ever teach you that it's rude to eavesdrop on your neighbors?"

"Shh," Aradia hisses. "I think I almost heard something then, but you talked over it!"

Your flatmate is currently kneeling on one of the dining table chairs, her ear pressed against the bottom of a glass, which is in turn pressed against the wall that separates your flat from the neighboring one. She's been listening intently for the last few minutes, making frustrated noises that you can only assume are due to your next door neighbor not doing anything interesting enough to be worth listening to.

"Besides," you continue blithely, turning the page, "entering her flat would be a much more effective means of determining whether our hypothesis is, in fact, true."

Aradia plonks the glass down on the table and makes her way over to the couch. You move your legs obligingly and she sits, pulling your legs into her lap and absently playing with the hem of your long skirt.

"That would be the best plan, wouldn't it?" she says. "Come to think of it, we haven't been very neighborly. She's been moved in for weeks and we haven't even given her a proper welcome yet!"

You set your Kindle down on your lap. Looks like you won't be getting any more reading done for the day, but paying a visit to your next door neighbor, who you and Aradia have decided is almost certainly a vampire - or a rainbow drinker, as the trolls call them - is easily what you'd rather be doing with your Saturday afternoon.

Aside from having similar living habits, such as a preference for storing the majority of your belongings on the floor and a penchant for collecting sundry items that people with less... _discerning_ tastes might find questionable, the principal reason why the two of you get along so well as flatmates is a shared fascination with all things occult and macabre. (You think the day you truly became best friends was when you realized that you could no longer sort out whose black lipstick or eyeliner was whose in your disorganized make-up drawer - nor did you much care to.) 

The newest addition to your building, a certain Miss Kanaya Maryam, has piqued both your interest for a number of reasons: namely, her unnaturally pallid skin and Aradia swearing that she witnessed said skin glowing bright and lighting up the dim hallways once in the middle of the night. Not a quality you've ever attributed to vampires before, but apparently a common trait among rainbow drinkers. You'd quizzed Aradia on whether she was sure it was Kanaya and not an actual lamp, but her confidence made you feel certain, too.

"We could just knock on her door and say hello, maybe bring a nice gift over," Aradia continues. "What do you think?"

You nod. "That sounds like an acceptable course of action. I know just the belated homewarming gift for her, too."

\--

Later, you're both standing, a little awkwardly, in front of Kanaya's flat. You've been tasked with carrying the rainbowberry pie you'd brought - your idea, but Aradia had gently yet quickly taken over the baking. Desiring to contribute more to the gift than merely stirring the pastry batter, you'd gussied up the pie dish and cover in a pie dish cosy you'd knitted once on a rainy day. (Aradia had been thoroughly nonplussed when you'd pulled the piece of knitting seemingly out of nowhere, nor had she bothered asking why you had a stray cosy lying around in the first place.)

"Go on, then," you say, lifting your chin to indicate the front door. Aradia smiles at you.

"OK. Here we go!"

She knocks. There are a few moments of silence before you hear footsteps, almost as if Kanaya were in the middle of something and had halted, hesitating, before coming to the door.

The door opens.

"Hello. Can I help you?"

Now that you're standing in front of Kanaya instead of looking at her from a distance or saying a quick hello on the way to or back from class, it's easy to be distracted by how lovely she looks. The way she speaks is oddly beguiling, as well - she enunciates everything she says so clearly that you can almost picture each word sitting delicately on her tongue before being spoken.

"Hi," says Aradia. You silently thank her for returning the greeting while you're just standing there, staring. "I'm Aradia Megido and this is my flatmate, Rose Lalonde. We live next door. You moved in pretty late, are you a transfer student?"

"I'm Kanaya Maryam," she says, looking curiously at the pie that's still in your hands, "and, yes, I transferred at the start of the semester."

"A welcome gift," you say, finally, presenting her with the dish.

"Oh! Thank you," she takes the dish from you, and you can't help but notice that she looks more anxious than pleased. "Would you like to come in?"

You don't really glean much about her potential rainbow drinker nature from her flat, but you do learn that she is apparently very enthusiastic about both gardening and decorating. She has more potted plants than the building's front garden, and her walls and ceiling are hung with all manner of colorful beads, tapestries and lights. It's honestly nice just to talk - Kanaya has kept mostly to herself since she moved in - but now the three of you talk about everything from books (she has the entire _Petula Deadshine_ series on her bookshelf as well as plenty of other titles you've enjoyed), fashion (she admires your shimmering, black and purple striped skirt and you end up making plans to take her to where you bought it - one of your and Aradia's favourite boutiques) and your lives since starting school, until you're surprised to notice that the sun has gone down.

\--

Even though your spontaneous visit yielded little evidence in the end - that Kanaya hadn't wanted to eat any of the pie while you and Aradia gobbled down a slice each was suspect, but it wasn't conclusive - you witness a pretty damning scene the following day when you're on your way back from lunch.

You're animatedly telling her about the Introduction to Eldritch Theology class you're taking - probably in greater detail than she had anticipated, but, to be fair, she _had_ asked - when you see a short, nubby-horned troll exit Kanaya's flat.

" - same time next week," you overhear him say to Kanaya, who's standing in the doorway.

He scowls at you as he walks past, and the two of you turn in tandem around to watch his retreating form. Then you both look at each other as his stomping footsteps echo in the stairwell. You'd both seen it - the piece of gauze taped onto the nape of the troll's neck, two neat pinpricks of bloodstains beginning to seep through the material.

"Uh," Kanaya says, "that was Karkat. He is kind of a grump, please don't mind it. Next time he visits I'll introduce you prop - "

"Those were fang marks. Right?" Aradia interrupts excitedly. She has that look on her face - the same one she had when she showed you that thoroughly unremarkable fedora she'd found at a thrift shop and when you'd explored the archeology section of the national museum together. All wide eyes and smiles. Nobody can deny that face anything.

"Yes," says Kanaya, carefully. "I'm sorry for not mentioning it earlier, but I find that my, um, eating habits rather color people's first impression of me, so I -"

"You don't have to apologize," you say, quickly, at the same time Aradia says, "That's so cool! Is Karkat the only one you feed on? If you ever get hungry and he's not around, you could always ask me, only if you want, that is, I've always wanted to try - "

You'd cut Aradia off with a gentle nudge and the look that means "you're doing that thing where you might be scaring someone again and you should probably stop", but a visual has forcibly entered your mind, the visual of Kanaya biting into the nape of Aradia's neck while her curly hair tumbles sensually over her opposite shoulder, both of them wearing... not much clothing at all, really. The mental tableau is so captivating and you're so bemused by the fact that you'd pictured _Aradia_ in an erotic situation, which you'd never done despite how physically intimate you are on a regular basis, that you almost miss Kanaya's response.

"Do you really mean that? Thank you, you cannot imagine how difficult it is to find adequate sustenance, people can be so squeamish about being fed from and bottled blood can taste so bland - "

You have a feeling you'll be seeing quite a lot more of Kanaya Maryam from now on.


End file.
